Anniversary

• Main performer: Seiji Ozawa
• Booklet languages: German, English, French
• Libretto languages: German, English, Latin
• Time: 710:52
• Release Date: 2010

Review

To mark Seiji Ozawa's 75th birthday celebration, Decca has assembled an impressive box set of his finest recordings for the label, which amounts to 11 CDs of almost 12 hours of exceptional music, brilliantly performed by five great orchestras. The program has its share of warhorses, namely Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor, and his crowd-pleasing "1812" Overture, but there is much here that's far off the beaten path and worth investigating. The opening disc presents Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, followed by the Concerto for Orchestra, so this is evidently a cue to take this set seriously. Other important choices are a handful of works by Takemitsu, whom Ozawa has championed for many years, a complete recording on one disc of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, and a CD of 20th century orchestral arrangements of music by Bach, possibly the most controversial and quirkiest of the set with its odd-lot transcriptions by Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Webern, Stokowski, and Saito. The rest of the set is perhaps less thought-provoking, but certainly just as enjoyable, with an assortment of popular works by Ravel, Poulenc, Rimsky-Korsakov, Richard Strauss, and Wagner, and a closing disc devoted to music on the theme of Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Berlioz, and Bernstein. Ozawa's fans may have some of these great recordings already, but because this package exposes the listener to much of his work that is special and hard to find, it is definitely worth spending a little time to examine its contents in depth. ~ Blair Sanderson, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Hector Berlioz	Roméo et Juliette, for alto, tenor, bass, chorus & orchestra ("symphonie dramatique"), H.79 (Op. 17) (3. Love Scene (Excerpt))	13:36
Sergey Prokofiev	Romeo and Juliet, Suite No. 1 for orchestra, Op. 64 bis (Death of Tybalt)	4:41
Sergey Prokofiev	Romeo and Juliet, Suite No. 2 for orchestra, Op. 64 ter	14:32
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Romeo and Juliet, fantasy-overture for orchestra in B minor (3 versions)	19:05
Leonard Bernstein	Symphonic Dances (9) from "West Side Story", for orchestra (orchestrated with Ramin & Kostal)	21:36
Richard Wagner	Tristan und Isolde, opera, WWV 90 (Liebestod)	7:24
Richard Wagner	Tristan und Isolde, opera, WWV 90 (Prelude)	10:22
Richard Wagner	Tannhäuser, opera, WWV 70 (Overture)	15:11
Richard Wagner	Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, opera, WWV 96 (Prelude)	10:41
Richard Wagner	Lohengrin, opera, WWV 75 (Prelude)	10:48
Richard Wagner	Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), opera, WWV 63 (Overture)	11:20
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	1812 -- Festival Overture, for orchestra in E flat major, Op. 49	15:00
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64	46:03
Richard Strauss	Feierlicher Einzug der Ritter des Johanniter-Ordens (Festival Procession), for brass & timpani, o.Op. 103 (TrV 224, AV 103)	6:07
Richard Strauss	Wiener Philharmonic Fanfare, for brass & timpani, o.Op. 109 (TrV 248, AV 109)	2:34
Richard Strauss	Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony) for orchestra, Op. 64 (TrV 233)	50:19
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov	Russian Easter Festival Overture (Svetlïy pazdnik), for orchestra, Op. 36	14:57
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov	Scheherazade, symphonic suite for orchestra, Op. 35	43:18
Francis Poulenc	Gloria, for soprano, chorus & orchestra, FP 177	23:23
Francis Poulenc	Concert champêtre, for harpsichord & orchestra, FP 49	25:05
Francis Poulenc	Concerto for organ, strings & timpani in G minor, FP 93	22:31
Johann Sebastian Bach	Prelude and Fugue, for organ in E flat major ("St. Anne;" Clavier-Übung III/26), BWV 552 (BC J16)	14:45
Johann Sebastian Bach	Vom himmel hoch, da komm ich her (I), canonic variations on the Christmas hymn for organ, BWV 769	10:38
Johann Sebastian Bach	Partita for solo violin No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 (Chaconne)	16:51
Johann Sebastian Bach	The Musical Offering (Musikalisches Opfer), for keyboard and chamber instruments, BWV 1079 (Ricercare a 6)	8:34
Johann Sebastian Bach	Toccata and Fugue, for organ in D minor, BWV 565 (BC J37)	9:17
Gustav Mahler	Symphony No. 2 in C minor ("Resurrection")	79:58
Toru Takemitsu	Ceremonial: An Autumn Ode, for sho & orchestra	9:00
Toru Takemitsu	Family Tree (Keizu), for speaker & orchestra	22:21
Toru Takemitsu	Air for solo flute	6:06
Toru Takemitsu	Requiem, for string orchestra	7:48
Toru Takemitsu	My Way of Life: In Memory of Michael Vyner, for baritone, chorus & orchestra	17:07
Hector Berlioz	Symphonie fantastique for orchestra ("Episode de la vie d'un Artiste...en cinq parties"), H.48 (Op. 14)	46:40
Maurice Ravel	Pavane pour une infante défunte, for piano (or orchestra)	6:22
Béla Bartók	Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta, Sz. 106, BB 114	29:20
Béla Bartók	Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116, BB 127	37:32

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